Honeypot Missions
by infinitemooonlight
Summary: He hates her honeypot missions. They make him wish she hadn't grown into her looks. But, he gets that she needs to take the missions, just like he needs to play double agent sometimes.
1. Chapter 1

First published Fic!

Yes, I realize that it probably sucks, but bare with me and give some feedback!

Math homework was getting way too frustrating, and this was the only form of procrastination left.

Disclaimer: All this is Ally Carter's. I'm not that awesome.

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He hates her honeypot missions. They make him wish she hadn't grown into her looks, the spitting image of Abby.

While she's away, he sometimes finds himself wishing she looked like a purple potato. (Which would make her taro.) Then she would just get the regular spy missions, despite how contradictory that sounds. Other times he's feeling sorry for Preston, because if Cammie gets a lot of _those _missions, Macey's assignments only consist of them. When both of them are away, Zach and Preston will get together and feel sorry for themselves, cursing their girlfriends and their spyish tendencies.

But, he gets that she needs to take the missions, just like he needs to play double agent sometimes. So, he tries his best to forget about it and turns the T.V. up really high and loses himself in the lives of angry housewives.

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Only sometimes, like now, he has to watch. Langley had requested both of them on the same mission, so he was doing surveillance while she is seducing some random terrorist. He hates that she has to do this, but he hates more that she's _good _at it, that experience has made her an expert. Every so often, she catches his eye and shoots an apologetic look at him and he tries, for her, to look nonchalant.

But, honeypot missions still suck, especially when he has to be there. It kills him that she finishes her job quickly, is out in a second and slips her hand in his, quietly, and slips the microchip in his hand. It is a brush pass that makes his love for her swell, so he squeezes her shoulder and plants a chaste kiss on her forehead.

"Let's go Gallagher Girl."

"Okay."

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The car ride is a soft, contemplating silence. It was his first time being there, on one of _those _missions, seeing her in the zone of _get in, get out._

"Zach, this doesn't change anything, right?" Cammie is genuinely curious and slightly worried. He contemplates this, why she would even ask this.

"Nah, it's part of the job, right?" He knows this is what she wants to hear, and he thinks that this is true, that they both have things they don't like about each other's job, but their job makes them happy. Happy that they are protecting their country and sometimes, each other. The happy half-smile on her face makes him smirk, grab her hand, and press her knuckles into his lips.

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Zach thinks that this mission would change things, because even though they've been on missions together before, this one is different and they both know it. And yet, she still falls asleep on the plane, with her head on his shoulder and she still triple-checks her luggage in the airport right in front of baggage claim. She has done this every time she gets off a plane, all four years she's been working. She still goes to the airport Starbucks and gets a grande mocha latte with vanilla syrup, and she still calls Bex up as soon as they're in their apartment.

It startles him, but then he grins that self-satisfied grin that she hates (loves), because this is an obstacle and they just passed it. So, suck it obstacle.

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It takes her a long time to unpack, it always does. By the time Zach's done, she's just getting to her fourth shirt and it's already been an hour.

"I told you not to just throw it all in at the hotel, Gallagher Girl."

"Shut _up_!" he laughs a bit and settles into a sitting position and starts to help her fold her jeans, smoothing out the creases and carefully making a pile next to him.

"Hey Zach, did you get the new assignments yet?" The question is asked lightly, meant to float carelessly in the air, but instead it sinks to the bottom of his stomach and stays there.

"Yeah." He clears his throat and continues, "It's next week, we're going to Brazil."

It seems that Cammie is still busy folding her clothes to notice his flustered tone, because her, "We?" is still careless and untroubled.

"I'm taking Grant and a couple others from the agency to round up the last of the Circle." This gets her attention.

"The what?" She is bewildered, and he can hear that hint of anger start to rise in her voice.

"Gallagher Girl, I know you don't want me to go, but I promise this is going to be one of the last times you'll ever hear about them again."

"I thought we got rid of then senior year?"

"Err, you got rid of the big guys, but a couple people are still working undercover."

"Why?'' The question is horribly blunt and Zach doesn't have an answer right away. _Why_ is the question he spent his whole life asking, and the best he can come up with is, "I dunno."

She seems to be struggling with something for a moment before shrugging and saying, "Okay."

Zach starts to reach for her shoulder, but then he pulls away quickly as she shoots him a _Don't you dare draw attention to this_ look and goes back to absentmindedly putting away clothes. Years of this crazy, dangerous life has given them the ability to let go of those paranoid thoughts during those times when it's not their job to anymore.

He watches her and when she finally finishes, pulls her up off the floor and they start chatting about the new _Psych_ episode.

"I love the ending, with his dad. "

"Yeah. Hey, I don't think we have the next one set to record yet."

"I'll set it later."

"Good."

He thinks, maybe, he should just leave them be for now, and enjoy his lovely girlfriend, and take the pan off the stove before the building burns down again. He runs off thinking, _I hope that smell isn't really smoke._


	2. Chapter 2

It's not nearly as good as the first chapter, but here it is! And, it got a lot more depressing than I thought it would be.

Chapter Two: Double Agent

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Cammie hates when he leaves for missions period. It was like the breath was gone from her lungs, like she had everything for a sundae but the ice cream. Gosh, she hates whenever that happens. She always does tell him to throw the empty carton away.

He's become such a permanent fixture in her life that when their favorite TV show is on, she'll turn to him to laugh about the stupid jokes and suddenly stop. Because he's not there, he's off somewhere saving the world.

The only thing worse than the normal missions are _those_ ones. The ones where if his cover is blown, he's gone forever. And forever is a long time. She never gets those, the double agent missions that she would gladly take for him.

He tries to keep her out of the loop, but really, he shouldn't leave the files out on the coffee table. They use him; they use his relationship with his mother. They make people think he's just as bad as Catherine, and she knows he hates it. She hates it for him, just in case he doesn't. She sends in requests in his name for the easy missions, the normal missions, but every spy knows that those requests just go into the shredder.

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She gets so afraid, that when he comes back, he won't be the same, that he'll be gone. Luckily, he doesn't. Wonderful Zach still gives her a kiss when she picks him up, sits down to watch the latest shows, and every time, without fail, he always insists that they go to Baskin Robbins on the way home. Even if he comes home to a blizzard, three miles before the second right turn, he always asks, "Can we please, please go get some ice cream?"

It was a little tradition that made her smile every time.

So, when he doesn't ask, she starts to get nervous. They were three point five miles away now, and she was bracing herself for the question. But it never comes. She waits until they're two point three miles away before asking, "Do you want some ice cream?" Her voice barely carries from her spot in the driver's seat. She doesn't want to push him, even if she is freaking out inside.

When he says, "No thanks," It breaks her heart into a million pieces. She drives into the busy lot full of kids making the most of summer vacation anyways. She gets out of the car, taking her frustration out on the poor car door. _What's wrong with him? What happened?_

Her eyebrows furrow when he follows without complaint, no quirky remark or objection. She gets Gold Medal Ribbon. He gets chocolate chip. The employee knows them by name now. "Hey guys, everything going well for you guys?" Zach nods silently, leaving Cammie to be the talkative one.

"We've been great, Amy. How are you doing?"

"Absolutely marvelous!" They both flinch slightly at her overly happy tone and after Cammie gives her a quick smile of thanks, they hurry over to the corner table that they sit at every time. Well, she does. Zach stops halfway and motions to a different one by the door. He sits down before she can object. The chair makes a nails-on-chalkboard type sound when she pulls it out.

She talks first. "What's wrong with you?" Screw not pushing him, a worried Cammie is not a patient Cammie.

"Nothing Cam, just kind of tired." His voice is gruff and gravely after not using it for most of the drive.

"What did you have to do on the mission?" The Circle had been bouncing around in her head since he told her about it three weeks ago, in both her sleeping and waking hours.

"Just took down some guys, you knew what we'd be doing." He says this like it is the end of the conversation; he must've forgotten who he was with.

"And?"

"And nothing, Cammie." So he didn't forget.

"_Nothing_? It's obviously not _nothing_!" Her voice is too loud, because heads are turning and she barely catches his downcast eyes.

When she asks, "Please tell me," it is just above a whisper and it breaks his heart.

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He grabs her hand and gets into the driver's seat. They drive to the river and sit, getting their pants wet and making them stick to their legs.

"They didn't trust me at first, so they wanted proof that I was on their side." The silence is stifling, forcing him to continue.

"I killed somebody. He was CIA; he was caught taking them down." There is a too long pause as she waits.

"He was just like me." Cammie squeezes his hand tightly and leans her head on his shoulder as his voice breaks. A dragonfly zooms past.

"Love you, Blackthorne Boy."

"Love you, Gallagher Girl."

The ride home is full of Simple Mind and words spoken at levels never exceeding a whisper. He is still healing and grieving for the agent he never knew. Cammie knows that she can't do anything but be there, but guide him along quietly. Perhaps they will skip _Psych_ tonight. They could eat mashed potatoes from the diner across the street from the apartment. Mashed potatoes are comfort food right?

Cammie doesn't know, her comfort food is mostly M&M's and PB&J, in large doses. But normal people, don't they eat mashed potatoes when the feel sad?

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She tries to be comforting when they get home.

"I'll make some tea."

"With a kettle? On the stove?"

"Yeah?" The answer comes out like another question.

"How about some apple juice?"

This makes her crack a smile, so she pours some apple juice and sits down with him on the couch. _Two new episodes of Psych recently recorded._ Or maybe they can turn those on and laugh for a bit. And, maybe, they'll have some pizza, mashed potatoes are for normal people, and they are anything but.

He lays a blanket over their intertwined legs and smiles down at her.

Maybe that's enough for now.


End file.
